Δv musings

So I've been working on my Knave hack for a quick, Pick-up-&-play type of SF system. Mostly just for fun, but also just an expression of how I think about the OSR and my own style of play. Namely: modular, diegetic based, referee plays world and (I know, shocking for an OSR type) dice are fun to roll. Also Ben made Knave to be hacked, and although it has been, not nearly to the extent I expected such a solid, open and modular system like it is should be. So I wanna.

I'm gonna add some pictures from some of the stories by H. Beam Piper available on Project Gutenberg. I love the aesthetic of them so damn much.

Little Fuzzy

Mechanics

So it is very much supposed to mimic Knave, and make judicious use of the "use whatever advantage you want" advice in the designer's notes. The base system is rock-solid, and I'm just adding to that. That being said, I gave a whole bunch of mechanics which can be used to emulate certain liked styles of play. Otherwise, the game is just as is.  

Character creation is made to be lightning fast. Yet, I have tried to preserve some of the fun mini-game that many modern rpgs have in their character creation system. You roll 3d6 and HP as per normal, but the Inventory slot system is used for abilities as well, called Stamina Slots. The Constitution Defense plus your highest bonus based score slots gives a mechanical backing to what you as a person could weather in your past (allowing you to permanently use slots for abilities), and allows for the other backing of making your character instantly customizable via items. This is unlike other games like html, and other Knave slot hacks, which I find bloats the instant you add extra slots using different ability scores. One might ask why would you mash your history, abilities and items into one set of limited slots, and just how could items then be useful if you have basically no slots if you decide to have a long and storied character? Well, that is the character creation tradeoff - you are modular or you are set. Also, items in SF games usually have a large number of uses. This forces you to immediately consider what you can carry, and whether it is useful. Also good for heist games. This system is simple, forces difficult choices, is play-orientated, and totally able to just be left to dice. 

I have yet to be proven disastrously wrong with unintended and unforseen design holes.

Exploring Ancient Mars in Omnilingual

Ships 

God this is one of those things isn't it. Every SF game needs vehicle mechanics. I have a love/hate relationship with that. So, I have made it that technically you could use whatever system suits your fancy. But I have also been fiddling with a weird system for ships which uses assumed advantage as its mechanic, which was made for the system, but I now realise is so modular as to simply be a type of ship wargame on its own. It has actually made me consider making a caravanserai type SF game, with customizable, simple characters in each ship.

Those lines, that shuttle!

Graphic Design

Every part is written to facilitate writing on a physical, self-printed out copy of the document. The Mechanics added-on to Knave are simple enough to make more of them, or to remove them entirely. I did this with wide line spacing, wide margins, tables with clear space to add to (with simple enough examples of mechanics) the vague definition of Advantage (which can be used as Knave describes, or, I have suggested sets of mechanics for Dis/Advantaged rolls). 

I will add Play Principles for both GM and Player in due time.

 

Setting

Very SWN-esque, and deliberately. Your player could die at any point. If you are not so sold on character death, you could institute an "at 0 HP you're unconcious, but roll on this effects table." which one can just steal from Into the Odd. To that end, you could use it to play a fun Star Wars game too I guess.

Frigid, Dead Mars.

Archeologists on Mars

The Old King

you just know they're bastards don't ya

Hell yeah space knight. Or MC?

space sword!

Those dreams of mega-structures...

Many Bubbling Pots

Plebs: Troika and EB

 

So I've been half working on a hack for Troika and Electric Bastionland (initially EB, but I figured I could just use Troika as well) called SPQR or Plebs. A humorous romp through the city of Ancient Imperial Rome. Supposed to be simultaneously anachronistic and also educational for the enterprising Referee and player. It will include two books, one for use with EB and the other for use with Troika. It'll include a simple pointcrawl map of Imperial Rome, with random tables to fill in black spaces on the map, as well as plot or hook tables. Thinking of making a Roman Bath adventure specifically tied to making connections, and getting jobs. Inspirations include; Monty Python The Life of Brian (Film), Horrible Histories - the Rotton Romans (Books) Blackadder (Series), Rome (Drama Series) and Plebs (Sitcom). 

Δv

from Omnilingual by H. Beam Piper

  

You might know that I'm working on a SpaceKnave hack called Δv. It's bubbling nicely along, but I've realised (after designing a whole subsystem completely separate from Knave) that there are so many Spaceship subsystems out there that you could just pick and choose and get on with it. Look at Stars Without Number or White Dwarf or just wing it, seriously. 

That being said, this spaceship subsystem is looking interesting to play as part of a caravanserai space trader game. Each player has his own ship and characters and they hop around looking for deals or danger. 

I'll probably publish the two together for a cost, and publish the spaceship rules separately as PWYW for exactly those groups who have a SF game but no spaceship rules.

FKR

I've been hanging out in the FKR discord, mostly lurking, and have found the "any book is your sourcebook" approach really, really fun. It's very obvious that FKR is a re-discovering of the joy of childlike make believe, as adults. Except it is far more structured and has a ton more game design philosophy behind it. I loved the Free Kriegspiel Revolution tag, and it made me immediately want to make something for a setting I've always wanted to play in - the Europe of Scott Westerfield's Leviathan. So I made it. Quickly sketched out a character creation process and put it up. Obviously I have no rights to the setting, but consider this a type of fanart. 

enter a biopunk, dieselpunk 1914...

Studies alongside Tabletop Adventure Games

Of course, among all of this I have my studies. It's long, a cross-country marathon at this point but ultimately worthwhile. Balancing my love of the Tabletop Adventure Game with work is one ongoing.

That odd Troika! collection. 

Some time ago I put together an odd collection of backgrounds for Troika! Daniel Sell's excellent re-imagining of Advanced Fighting Fantasy. As I have mentioned previously it is an absolute pleasure to knock out one or two backgrounds when you're bored, and recently I've done so again. Observe... 

 

Maybe I'll playtest them and publish them on my itch page, maybe I'll make a whole new set for my Basic Fantasy game tentatively referred to as Typewriter Fantasy

Mausritter

I've been playing a game of Mausritter, and although I had some drop-outs due to expectations of a heavier system, it has been rather fun! I have yet to get my head around mixing the Sword & Sorcery with...animals? It's a bit whimsical, but nonetheless I can certainly see the vast potential of it. 

I am resolved to make a list of creatures I like, and make them terrifying or interesting by just reading what they do. Tim Kask in his Curmudgeon in the Cellar series has pointed out how the tendency of creating new strange beasts for early TSR AD&D tended to make an unidentifiable slurry of same-feeling monsters. He points out that the animal world has tricks and tactics which are terrifying if used on those adventurers unfamiliar with them.

A Tabletop Fantasy Adventure Game

I truly have tried my best to plan some kind of OSR system for Tiroeth. It has so far been a little bit of a continual dipping of toes in water. I look at stripping down Scarlet Heroes and then step away. I look at Old School Essentials, then decide it's too janky for my liking. Overall, Tiroeth has soured it's a pity to say. I'm already looting its corpse for the ripe ideas I had then.

I'm settling on Knave at the moment (and honestly also Troika! but I feel bad stepping back from the acid fantasy it bathes in). I really admire Ben Milton's streamlined work, want to play more of it, and so have been having a wonderful time creating more Knacks for my Knaves. I just wonder which adventure I should start them off on; B2 Keep on the Borderlands? Gatehouse on Cormac's Crag? Castle Xyntillian? or maybe just Tomb of the Serpent Kings?

So many options...

Mausritter lessons

I really do not like actual play reports. I get why people write them, but I'd rather have them be vague lessons for how this game ran and how it could apply to yours. 

Anyway, Mausritter is a dope-ass game with dope-ass mechanics. Not entirely suited for online play but what the hell. I posted an advert to (mostly) D&D groups in the country that I live - most people there enjoy 5e, so I got few responses. 

[alpha] It helps to be honest about the type of game (mechanically) that you're running.

I ran Honey in the Rafters - and it is incredibly good; great setting, treasure, encounters. I [beta] struggle with ratcheting tension in conversations, which was how my players decided to interact with the cultists. I guess playing the NPC as faithfully as possible helps, but humour and drama have their place (namely the sugar addicted cultists offered their sticky hands for the players to lick.)

[gamma] It was also difficult orchestrating first meetings. I have a tendency to jump on mechanics if they seem cool, but leave them when it would mean essentially instadeath. "What makes sense" doesn't always run, but "what is reasonable without good payoff" seems to run. I far prefer it when I let the dice fall where they may, which is why I enjoy OSR play. This happened with a tricky first encounter with Stig, where a Running save sorta made one character fall into his clutches. Only then did I roll a Morale.

Also, I really don't like online play because [delta] I am very easily distracted by things going on online. It has led to more than one mistakes when listening to players. I could still zone out, and then ask for a "caller" role to clarify exactly what was said. 

Finally, [epsilon] rulings are actually kinda hard. I had to backtrack on how caltrops work even after I had rolled quite a few damage dice. In retrospect, it was a good decision (d4 damage, or use action to sweep away), but still.

Lastly [zeta] I had a weird moment where I had to run large groups of characters against each other. I simply repurposed the Warband rules (although the rules are for far larger groups) to simulate the combat quickly. Up the damage dice here, lower the damage dice there, etc. 

When it comes to Rulings, I am reminded by the excellent OSR advice in Electric Bastionland. Especially just how one should make them. Using it on an Into the Odd inspired system just works.

Quibble with the Mausritter layout. I found myself flipping quite a bit when it came to character stuff/rest and overland travel. Minor, but still not as clean as I would have liked it. Will probably become better.  

Now for some beasts - easily portable into your Into the Odd game.

Tarentaal | 7 HP, Armour 1, STR 11, DEX 14, WIL 8, Beak (d6) or Talons (d8)
- A massive bipedal bird, red crested with speckled feathers. Four mice can ride it.
- Noted for its speed and ability to glide. Difficult to train alone.
- Makes all DEX saves with Advantage
- Wants: Safety in a flock and food.

Capybara | 10 HP, Armour 1 , STR 10 , DEX 15 , WIL 12 , Bite (d8) or Trample (d10), Warband Scale
- Gigantic semi-aquatic rodent. Agile on water and land.
- Their musk (if you can get it) is used in perfumes and potions. Rarely alone, very knowledgeable.
- Wants: Good conversation, gossip and some new leisure activity.

Capybara Families
1. The Ruda - Extremely close, work together
2. The Tupa - Traditional, take offense easily
3. The Hidra - Lazy, waterbound mostly
4. The Irasema - River traders, know many tidbits
5. The Caique - Ferrymen, can confirm/deny rumours
6. The Kauan - Warrior clan, you can hire them.

I despise being unable to process

I live with what seems like a pretty mild (but nonetheless debilitating) form of anxiety and/or depression. I am on treatment, and very carefully control my sleep hygiene, try not to drink alcohol and not to eat extremely chemically flavoured foods, and try mindfulness/meditate every day.

It's been central to how I now view the world. I became quite aware of just how absolutely different my thoughts would be about exactly the same person or situation one day to the next, or minutes after meditation. I realised just how much it seemed to do - a jokey comment would grow malignant in my head, swallowing all thoughts, leading to (sometimes painful) tension in my breastbone. 

I am well aware when I do feel like that - once I would try to think myself out of it, but alas, that fed the fetid beast. No, the only ways it would retreat would be to target the...sympathetic (in medical terms), or emotional content of the situation. This for me is impossible without medication - I really tried sleep, food, exercise, meditation. 

Once I calmed the mind, and examined the emotional earth out of which my thoughts grow, was when I could process events. Instead of the maddening two-dimensional emotion-thought, I could layer it. See the other joke, why I should not care, why it was not this impossible situation, but a product of my own mind - created by it, fueled by supposed logic.

And I wonder how many live like that? Unaware of how much anger, pain, anxiety or happiness clouds simple thought, simple perspective. I'm sure many are aware of how anger can do that, but otherwise?

Δv/Belta: Ships & Space Combat

Build

Your Ship already has…

• Airlocks, but no Spacesuits

• It is Small

• Basic Comms, Impulse Navigation and Data Drives

• Basic LuxSpeed Engine.

• A Piloting console

• A Weapons console

• A Hull 

• A fuel capacity

• A small galley, and living quarters for 6 of your crew. 

• Extra space in the ship for three additional Upgrades or Cargo. 

  
  

  
  
  

1. You have three Stats: Pilot/Hull/Weapons. Plus 3 open Slots for Augments or Cargo or whatever else.

2. Assign 1/1/2 in those 3 Stats.

3. Pilot and Weapons point equals a d6, called a Stat Dice. Your first Hull dice is fixed at 6, the next ones add 3 to the Hull Stat Dice value.

4. The Hit Protection of the Ship equals Hull Stat dice multiplied by 3.

5. Total Fuel capacity is equal to (Pilot Stat+#Captain/s)x6 

6. You may purchase one Upgrade. The crew starts with a debt of that upgrade. 

7. Choose a name, and traits. 

Ship Combat

As always, make judicious use of common sense. For example, a drone attack would be resolved only after everybody has acted (to allow for the drone to reach the enemy ship)

The basic procedure goes as so:

1. Everyone at the table declares which console they are in. Any useful skills the PCs can justify allow that PC to roll twice.

2. Roll group initiative 1-3 the PCs act, 4-6 the NPCs act.

3. Resolve Upgrade attacks (hacking, tapping comms, drones etc)

4. Resolve Piloting tactics (ram, Luxspace jump, high-grav turn)

5. Resolve Weapon attacks

6. Repeat 

The Mechanical Attack goes as so.

1. Each Stat or Upgrade has a value equal to the number of dice you can roll. (2=2d6, 3=3d6) Each Player in a console rolls a dice, along with the dice of the Console/Upgrade. 

2. The total number of the Stat Dice is counted, with each Player having one dice they add to that total. 

3. You roll to attack, I roll to defend, we roll any Advantages, advantages do not stack.

4. If the defense is higher than the attack, it does nothing except protect the HP of the defender. If the attack is higher than the defense, HP is subtracted according to the difference. 

5. Any 1’s on the dice impose a disadvantage, with advantages subtracted first, single dice rolling at a disadvantage.

6. Tactics by the Pilot can impose a broad advantage on all PCs in an Upgrade, Pilot console or Weapons Console. They also impose disadvantages. 

It is recommended that each person, in each console, has their own dice. When a Dis/Advantage is imposed, you resolve it per player.  

Example

Each player adds a d6 to the Stat Dice, relevant advantages get ADVd6. Example: Ship has a stat of 2, adds 2d6. Pete and Wam each add 1d6, for a total of 4d6. If Wam has ADVd6 one d6 would be rolled twice, using the highest roll.

When you attack, the players in Weaponry add a d6 for a stat point, and a d6 or ADVd6 for participation, to beat the combined Pilot Roll+Hull points of the opposition. If the weaponry beats the opposition's Pilot+Hull Stat Dice, the difference is damage. The same thing is done when being attacked. A 1 on a dice leaves progressive dice being rolled at a DisADV. Example The Weapons:1 fires. Two PCs man it. the rolls are then 3, 4, 1. A DisADV is imposed, starting on a PC Dice. Next Roll: (2,5), 3, 4 = 9 Next Roll: (3,4), 1, 3 = 7. Another DisADV is imposed. Next Roll, (2,3), (1,5), 4 = 7. Any ADVs are cancelled first.

Pilot Tactics

These are very much last moment plans. It should also be understood that these are barely the only plans - environmental aspects can be used as Pilot tactics, and should be improvised or planned for in play. Write them up.

Tactic	Effect	Advantage	Disadvantage
Ram	Ram Your Hull into another	Enemy Hull Damage	Self Hull Damage (Smaller vessel or Hull Stat Dice difference)
LuxSpace Jump	Phase into LuxSpace for a couple minutes	Cannot be damaged	Next Round, Defense=Hull Stat Dice.
High-Grav Turn	Turn ship, causing HighGrav	ADV to Pilot Defense	Next round rolls have DisADV
Hold	Stop ship relative to nearby star	ADV to Weapons/Upgrades	Next Round Defense has DisADV
Deaden	Switch off all ship systems	All opponent attacks are at DisADV	Cannot act next round, Boot up.

Upgrades

The slots are essentially always cargo holds, until you dedicate it to a Upgrade.

Name	Description	Price
Landing Gear	Allows you to Land on a Planet	C
LuxNav AI	Halves LuxSpace Travel	CCCC
DeepSleep Quarters	Allows up to Six DeepSleep for LuxSpace travel	CC
Secret Cargo	A secret cargo hold	C
Drone Bay	Allows a 3 drones of various uses to be docked	CC
Hacking Console	Allows for hacking of systems	C
Spacesuits	Spacesuit storage and refueling	C
Med Bay	Allows for 1d10 healing time	CCC
Dedicated Work Bay	Allows for Advantage or preparation in a specific subject. Farm/Dojo/Weaponry/Science/Animal Pen	~CC~
Additional Weapons	Another Weapon Fitting (allows an increased damage dice, Special effect or more dice)	~CC~
Additional Quarters	Allows space for 4 Hired Crew	~CCC~

Ship Traits

Outside	Sounds	Inside Space
Grimy	Creaky	Distinct Smell
Shiny	Sound dulled inside	Oddly Proportioned
Slogans across Hull	Rattling Pipes	Feels Cramped
Banged up	Creepy Silence	Feels Spacious
Bulky	Echoey	Badly Lit
Sleek	Loud	Brightly Lit
History	Build	Inside Look
Found abandoned	Homebuilt	Sharp Angles
Barely used	Old Model	Dull Paint Job
Previous name famed	Corp prefab	All curves
No records (wiped/lost)	Bog Standard	Industrial Aesthetic
Military	Historically significant specifications	Colourful Paint Job
Station Module (Bar/Home/Clinic/Farm etc)	Modular Layout	Baroque Facades

Space Travel

Ships all have a Lux-Engine. Interplanet travel uses impulse, Interstellar travel uses LuxSpeed through LuxSpace. LuxSpace is a type of universe having outlived 3 universes before ours. Like a capricious sea it requires focus to traverse, with a live crew, or an expensive LuxNav AI. Failure to prepare for LuxSpace travel has resulted in madness, ghost Ships, raiders and entire fleets disappearing.

LuxSpeed engines are Basic, or Complex. Complex Engines are pre-fall, and cut the time travelled in half. Basic Engines can be fine-tuned at great cost for a single trip of half-time. A LuxNav AI halves the time. An awake competent crew-member halves the time.

I assume essentially “units” of distance between stars. A Basic LuxSpeed one unit trip, no fine tuning, Deep-Sleeping crew, no encounters and fortunate LuxSpace tides, is a 144 days of just waiting.

Designer’s Note: 144 is a 12 squared. 12 has a bunch of factors so you could divide by two for quite some time before you hit a single indivisible number.

Travel inter-planet is 1 trip:1 fuel per impulse trip in a system.

Per unit LuxSpeed trip with working, living crew 1 unit:2 Fuel per person+engine.

Per unit luxspeed with Deep-sleeping crew 1 unit:1 fuel per person+engine.

Ship augments requiring energy increase the fuel cost by 1 per upgrade.

Sleeping on your trip means you could get lost (if no dedicated luxspeed navigation computer), or captured en route.

Deep-Sleep

However you wish to flavour it, Deep-Sleep is cryogenic, hormonally induced, or whatever else. LuxSpace is mildly stressful, and boring, and DeepSleep allows for maximized resources. 

LuxSpace Encounters

Roll 1d6 per unit of Travel, 6 is an encounter.

Roll 1d6 if an awake crew, 1d12 if asleep. A LuxNav computer counts as if the crew is asleep.

1.	Gravity Well (+d4 Fuel cost)	11.	Black Hole (+d12 Fuel Cost)
2.	Lux Tide (Lost)	12.	1d6 Lux-Raptors (Extremely Dangerous)
3.	Trader	13.
4.	Lux Piscean School (CCC if caught)	14.
5.	Systems Failure (+12 days)	15.
6.	Raider Ship	16.
7.	Transmissions (1-6 Chance to have value)	17.
8.	Pre-Verse Lighthouse (Means Beware)	18.
9.	Abandoned Ship	19.
10.	Appear in Nebula (5-6 Systems Failure)	20.

 

Please let me know what you think of it in the comments!

(Also, as for the name: Belta, Δv or something else?)

Pen & Paper Tavern Games

A person, making a world for any Tabletop RPG, will come across a question at some point in their career - whether it be in game, or outside of it; What the hell do my NPCs play as games in their spare time?

Whether your PCs find a place to sit in the crowded tavern of the bustling city-port of your fantasy world, drink martinis and cocktails in seedy bars of cyberpunk metropolii, or compete in the underground speakeasy of your steampunk frontiertown, you will need to come up with some sort of game your players can get interested in - a bar game.

I've seen variations of bar games, here and there. I've seen it done on Critical Role, in my own games, in some sci-fi actualplays I can't care to remember the name of.

So, what the hell works?

This determines how you want your players to interact with the world. When playing one of these games, you do not want them to have so much fun as to abandon the main point of the TTRPG altogether - an addictive minigame. You don't want it to be too complicated, and you don't want it to break the suspension of disbelief, and bring the players rushing back to playing a game for stakes in the real world.

So you want it to be interesting, but not too fun, simple, and (preferably) using in-universe theatre of the mind.

How to recognize a good (TTRPG) game

Simplicity, Playability, Interactivity, Reward. Let's say these are the pillars of a good TTRPG game.

Simplicity: This one is simple - this is a game within a game, you don't want to not play the game you're all here to play. Then you might as well tear one off the shelf and begin playing with those coloured tokens. You want it to be accessible, simply.

Playability: In the end, no matter how simple the game is, you want the game to play well. The no stakes "one roll and you're out" is no fun. Neither is the simple game with the same outcome. This ties into the simplicity and accessibility in your game.

Interactivity: I would like to say this one is the most vital of the bunch. You are here to play a TTRPG. Whether it be online or in mom's basement or at your local gamng store, you are here to play with other people. In this regard, you want the game to stimulate interaction between your characters, and your NPCs - this includes making it crystal clear that your NPCs are cheating, but the characters not knowing that. This can take the form of betting, constant chatter, still pokerfaces; the point is that the very act of trying to figure out the motivations of the others at the table is a vital aspect of this game.

Reward: This can honestly be anything, and is dependent on your table. Your group may just love rolling dice - let them roll dice. They might love upping stakes - give them a betting game. They might not even care about the game, but want the incredbile amounts of cash available winning it - be careful with this one, it could derail your game. Use the latter as an introduction into other parts of your world.

Example

Let's have a look at an unbelievably simple '21' variant one of my players cooked up. The point of the game is to guess the dealers roll.

1. Each side rolls a 1d20+1d4.
2. Place bets 1 round. 
3. Choose to add a 1d4. 
4. Place bets again. 
5. Repeat steps 3-4 until somebody folds or cannot bet higher.
6. Reveal. Closest to, below 21 wins.

We ran this as if they were playing a card game - in a bar in a MagicPunk frontiertown. Simple? Hell yeah, I wrote the rules in six short sentences. Playable? Very much so. Not dull, uses weird dice, tense, not too many moving parts. Interactive? If you don't think being smart and guessing the other's roll, reading them and then betting is being interactive, then leave. Reward? The reward can be in the money, in the tense dice rolling, or the players jeering people on.

The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition Dungeon Master's Guide had a list of gambling games on page 215-216. They are clearly in the "normal people gambling games" category.